This pistol (SN 567326) was presented to General Bruce Palmer,
Jr., U. S. Army. Army general officers have been issued special
pistols since the Second World War. The reasons for this are
obscure. Some indicate that this was done as a badge of rank,
others believe that these officers required a personal defense arm
that was small enough to be carried unobtrusively and would not
interfere with their movements, be it in and out of aircraft,
jeeps, or other modes of transport. Typically, Army general officer
pistols have been John Browning-designed Colt Pocket Automatic
Pistols in .32 or .380 caliber.

General Bruce Palmer, Jr., son and grandson of career soldiers,
was born in Austin, Texas on April 13, 1913. His grandfather,
George Henry Palmer, served as a cavalryman during the Civil War,
and on March 10, 1896, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for
gallantry at the Battle of Lexington, Missouri in September 1861.
He also served in the Spanish-American War, and retired with the
rank of Major on February 27, 1899. While stationed at Fort
Wallace, Kansas, his son, Bruce, was born on July 27, 1878.

In 1898, Bruce Palmer followed his father's footsteps and
enlisted in the cavalry. In 1900, he received a commission as
Second Lieutenant, and served in France as a Lieutenant Colonel
with the American Expeditionary Force during the First World War.
He retired from the Army on June 30, 1942 with the rank of
Brigadier General, and during his career, he earned both the U.S.
Distinguished Service Medal and the French Legion of Honor, as well
as numerous campaign and battle awards. Bruce Palmer, Jr. attended
Kansas State University before entering the United States Military
Academy in 1932.

While at West Point, he excelled academically and was also a key
player on the Academy's championship polo team. Graduating sixth in
the Class of 1936, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of
Cavalry and served with the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Bliss,
Texas. He also served at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia as a troop
squadron commander with the 6th Cavalry Regiment (Mechanized), one
of the first armored units in the Army. Shortly after his
graduation from West Point, Lieutenant Palmer married Kay Sibert,
daughter of Major General F. C. Sibert, U.S. Army-Retired, a member
of the U.S. Military Academy's Class of 1912.

Between March 1942 and late 1943, Palmer was assigned to the
Operations Division of the War Department General Staff. During
this assignment, he also served on temporary duty with various
units in North Africa and the Middle East. In January 1944, he
became Chief of Staff, 6th Infantry Division, and participated in
three assault landings during the Division's campaigns in New
Guinea and Luzon, Philippine Islands. After the Japanese surrender,
he took command of the 6th Division's 63rd Infantry Regiment in
Korea, where he remained until returning to the United States in
1946.

After tours with Headquarters, First Army and as a member of the
faculty of the Infantry School, he graduated from the Army War
College in 1952 and served in Germany, both on the staff of U.S.
Army Europe and as commander of the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st
Infantry Division. After returning to the United States in 1955, he
served on the faculty of the Army War College, then returned to the
Army General Staff for a second tour of duty. In July 1959, he was
promoted to Brigadier General and was posted to the Army War
College as Deputy Commandant.

In July 1961, he served as Assistant Division Commander of the
82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Promoted to
Major General in 1962, he served in Korea as Chief of Staff, U.S.
Eighth Army, until August 1963. After a third tour with the General
Staff in Washington, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff for
Military Operations, U.S. Army, with the rank of Lieutenant General
effective July 29, 1964. During the Dominican Crisis of April 1965,
General Palmer deployed with Headquarters, XVIII Airborne Corps,
and later assumed command of U.S. Land Forces in the Dominican
Republic. He was U.S. signatory for the Act creating the first
Inter-American Force, later Inter-American Peace Force, and served
as its first commander until relieved in May 1965.

He retained command of U.S. Forces in the Dominican Republic
until January 1966, when he returned to Fort Bragg at both Post
Commander and Commander, XVIII Airborne Corps, which consisted of
the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, Corps Artillery, and other
support troops. In the spring of 1967, General Palmer served in
Vietnam as Commander, II Field Force, consisting of the 1st, 9th,
and 25th Infantry Divisions, the 196th and 199th Light Infantry
Brigades, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the 11th Armored Cavalry
Regiment, and II Field Force, Vietnam Artillery. He also served as
Senior Advisor to the Commanding General, II Corps, Republic of
Vietnam. In May of that year, he became Deputy Commander, U.S.
Army, Vietnam, a force of 350,000 soldiers from seven different
divisions, 4 brigades, and various support units.

On August 1, 1968, Palmer received his fourth star and was
appointed Army Vice Chief of Staff. After the June 1972 retirement
of General William C. Westmoreland, General Palmer became Acting
Chief of Staff during the interim period ending October 12, 1972,
when Creighton W. Abrams became Chief of Staff. Palmer continued to
serve as Vice Chief of Staff until assuming command of the U.S.
Readiness Command, a joint services command headquartered at McDill
Air Force Base, Florida. General Palmer retired on September 9,
1974 after 38 years on active duty.

Among his awards are the Army Distinguished Service Medal with 4
Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the
Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Air Medal
with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Army Commendation Medal, the
European-African-Middle East Campaign Medal with Battle Star, the
Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with Arrowhead and three Battle
Stars, and the Vietnam Service Medal with 4 Service Stars. After
his retirement from active service, General Palmer continued to
serve his country in several defense- and military
intelligence-related advisory positions. He has also authored two
books, The 25-Year War: America's Military Role in Vietnam, and
Intervention in the Caribbean: The Dominican Crisis of 1965. He is
also editor of and contributor to Grand Strategy for the 1980s, and
he authored "U.S. Security Interests and Africa South of the
Sahara," a publication of the American Enterprise Institute for
Public Policy Research, where he also served as co-editor of AEI
Defense Review.